Australia / India Twenty20 match to be aired in 1080i

Australian networks backing off of HD sports broadcasts?

It's shocking this is still an issue in 2011, but viewers in Australia are struggling with OTA networks that have suddenly decided there's not enough room to broadcast sports programming in HD. The digital switch over Down Under isn't scheduled to finish until 2013, and since each network only has the space to broadcast one HD feed alongside two SD channels, they shuffle a few things to the side. According to an article in The Australian the free to air networks have decided to develop male or female-skewed programming lineups (sound familiar?) of comedy and drama that they think are more appealing. The situation seems very reminiscent to the one here in the US with NBC locking down the Olympics and insisting on tape delays to pump the ratings while ESPN is willing to broadcast the games live, except there it's Fox Sports that will be airing AFL games in HD -- next season.